A Christmas wish

December 07, 2007 01:09 pm

— The editor:
This year, I would publicly like to make known my Christmas wish. All I want for Christmas is the return of my grandmother. Stella “Gladys” Kidd disappeared on August 6, 1990 shortly after cashing a check for $56,000 at U.S. Bank, then known as People’s First Bank. She requested cash despite the warning from the bank teller that she should get a cashier’s check. She wrote letters to her children telling them goodbye and disappeared.
Sadly the story does not begin there: for years a predator had been calling my grandmother and refusing to talk when other members of the family answered the phone. He did not allow his identity to be known by the family, members of the community, or members of my grandmother’s church. In 1988, my grandmother sold half of the family farm and the money from the sale vanished. My grandmother continued to get calls from her mystery “boyfriend” and leave for secret “dates” with this predator.
Repeatedly, the family attempted to warn Gladys that this mystery man was up to no good. She often told us that we would be surprised who her boyfriend was and that we knew him. My grandmother disappeared on August 6, 1990 and as of that date her social security checks have gone uncollected, her driver’s license has never been renewed, and her social security number has had no activity. While the State Police have listed her as a missing person, it is quite obvious that she is a victim of murder.
My grandmother was a wonderful person and someone that I have sought to emulate all my life. She was kind to others and always made room for one more person at her table. She was the best grandmother a person could ask for. For seventeen years her family has had to live through the torture of knowing what she must have endured in those final moments when she realized that the person she had put her trust in was actually a murderer. This holiday season I would ask that if anyone has information about this disappearance, they contact the State Police. You see I made a promise to my grandmother that I would do everything possible to bring her home, but I need the help of the community that I love so dear. If you have any information, I beg you, please come forward so that my grandmother can come home. That is my Christmas wish.

Saundra Nathanson